The strategy of Smart Dubai is “Our revolutionary approach to smart city transformation places happiness, not technology, at the core of our strategy.”

“The Smart Dubai initiative structures its end-goals across a carefully crafted set of strategic pillars. These are Efficient, Seamless, Safe and Impactful. We envision a city where all its resources are optimised for maximum efficiency, where services are integrated seamlessly into daily life, where we protect both our people and information — creating the most enriched life and business experience possible for all. Dubai will become the innovation benchmark for smart cities seeking global sustainability and competitiveness.”

Mobile Telco Du Reveals New Blockchain Healthcare Partnership securing health records on a blockchain. “We are thrilled to be partnering with du to bring blockchain technology to UAE. Guardtime will leverage on its expertise as its blockchain technology has been in production for many years in Estonia delivering security and efficiency to health-care services. We would like to thank du and NMC Healthcare for this opportunity.” Mike Gault, CEO of Guardtime – expected deliver of Proof of Concept due early 2018

BitOasis, the first Bitcoin exchange was launched May 2016. “The UAE specifically serves as a gateway to the Middle East, but it’s a big outbound remittance market with corridors to India, Philippines, Thailand, Kenya and other countries. It’s a connection between different countries and different markets and we see a big opportunity for bitcoin.” Co-founder Ola Doudin.

LocalBitcoins, an Over The Counter (OTP) global platform that is active in Dubai – find a buyer or a seller near you. Here is the volume traded over the platform. A bit of a volume spike around April 2016, however, many Bitcoins are exchanged peer to peer vs from an exchange or OTP which means the traded volume is much higher than indicated below.